Legacy admissions have long been a practice at US universities, more commonly at private or selective universities. The practice first began at Ivy League schools in the 1920s, according to research from the sociologists Deborah L Coe and James D Davidson. It was primarily used as an antisemitic policy to limit the number of Jewish students who were enrolling. Schools would weigh criteria including “good character”, namely having “proper ethnic and non Jewish affiliations”, previous attendance at private schools, and attending chapel services, Coe and Davidson wrote.
Though universities no longer explicitly discriminate against Jewish applicants in legacy admissions, many still have legacy policies to maintain alumni relations, and to secure funding from alumni, despite research disputing that legacy admissions increase donations, said Richard Kahlenberg of the Progressive Policy Institute, a liberal thinktank. Beyond boosting admissions, some schools, namely state flagship colleges, also offer scholarships solely to legacy admissions, another way of increasing that demographic.
But results on increasing diversity among students by decreasing legacy admissions have been mixed.
